Page 37 of Where the Wattles Bloom

It was her turn to shrug. ‘I got married at nineteen and it lasted two years, so I’m not one to judge.’

‘Nineteen?’ Lachlan blinked. ‘Wow. Were you young and dumb too?’

‘I was young and pregnant so, yeah, I guess.’

‘Oh, shit.’ Lachlan sobered quickly. ‘Sorry. I shouldn’t have been flippant.’

Also … did that mean she had a kid out there somewhere? A teenager?

‘Don’t worry about it.’ She gave him a smile and a little shoulder bump for assurance, which he appreciated. ‘For … various reasons, we decided the next logical step, at least back then anyway, was to get married. Ian was a great guy and would have made a great father.’

Would have … Lachlan didn’t miss the past tense.

She stared out into the night. ‘I was thirteen weeks at our quickie wedding. I lost the baby the following week.’

Lachlan didn’t know what to say. Would she want to hear an I’m sorry from him, or did she hate the triteness of it as much as he did? She hadn’t said it to him at any stage tonight. Not over his parents, or Gabby or Brit.

And he’d heard it so many times after his parents had died, it had become meaningless.

‘That’s late, right?’

‘Uh huh.’ She nodded. ‘Most miscarriages happen in the first trimester. About two per cent happen after week thirteen.’

Lachlan remembered after the condom incident that Rowena had mentioned having a lot of failed IVF, so she obviously had a complicated fertility history that she might not want to talk about. And that was also none of his business.

‘Was it a boy or a girl?’

She glanced at him for long moments before a tentative smile touched her lips. ‘You know … no one ever asks me that.’

Great. Just great. Good one, doofus.

‘I’m sorry. I … didn’t mean to pry.’

‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘It’s fine.’ Looking at her hands, she said, ‘He was a boy. I called him Archie.’

Lachlan didn’t know what to say to that at all. Or even if he was supposed to. So he waited a beat or two before ploughing on. ‘That was … hard. On your marriage?’

‘Very.’ She nodded. ‘I don’t really think we stood a chance after that. I mean, we liked each other, but we were no love match. And I think, deep down, we were both secretly relieved about the baby.’

She stopped then, like she’d said too much, her gaze dropping to the ground. Did she think he’d judge her for that? Lachlan would have been absolutely bloody terrified at nineteen to become a father. Sure, he would have done the right thing, but it would never have been his choice.

Rowena would get no judgement from him.

‘Which made us both feel shitty and guilty.’ He watched her profile as she lifted her gaze, staring into the dark as if she was trying to locate the horizon. ‘We argued a lot until we both decided it wasn’t working and separated.’

‘Was that a relief, too?’

She gave a humourless half laugh. ‘Oh yes.’

‘Yeah. I get that.’

And then they didn’t say anything for a long time, just stood companionably at the railing alternating between staring at the stars and peering into the bush. The only sounds were the insects and Red, panting as he lay between them, his paws hanging over the edge of the deck.

Lachlan wanted to ask about her second marriage, but he figured this was the perfect opportunity for her to have continued her story and she’d chosen not to.

So that was that.

He didn’t know how long had passed before her sigh broke the silence, which, strangely enough, hadn’t been awkward. ‘It really is gorgeous out here. So peaceful.’